Mbeki highlights the need for ANC renewal and integrity

THE project of renewal within the ANC is moving slowly, although non-genuine members are already weaning themselves off the party.

- THAMI MAGUBANE

That is the view shared by some ANC members in the Midlands, who have observed business people, who previously secured tenders through party connections, abandoning the ANC, along with former leaders joining opposition parties.

They spoke after former President Thabo Mbeki made a call for the party to take the renewal programme seriously and remove those who seek to use the party for self-enrichment. Mbeki made these remarks while attending a political education school in Durban at the weekend.

“Be honest about the state of the organisation. As a movement and an organisation, we recognise there is a crisis. You can't drop from where we were to this 17% and think there is no crisis,” he said. He noted that the situation was so dire that even in localities, it was difficult to identify which areas were ANC strongholds.